The Fool
by Noobasaurus8
Summary: Experiment #027 of the Estraneo family was released by Rokudo Mukuro along with Ken Joshima and Chikusa Kakimoto ten years ago. With nowhere else to go, he joins them on their mission to destroy the mafia. Starts in the middle of the Varia arc. Semi-AU, 6927 and All27.
1. Battle of the Mist Ring

Yay~! My very first fanfic :3  
To clarify, Semi-AU. There's still Vongola and all the Guardians are the same except for Tsuna. Tsuna has no connection to the Vongola or even the Sawadas.  
In comparison to the original story it's kinda curved. The beginning is almost the same and it slowly strays off from there until it's completely different.

All27. As much as I love R27 and Fong27, they and any other Arcobaleno pairing will sadly not be in here! I couldn't think of a good reason of why the curse would be broken. If in the Representative Battle of the Rainbow arc or any future arc has the breaks the curse, I might have Arcobaleno27, but I doubt the manga will ever do that.

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira Amano. I _wish_ I owned it x|

Yeah...Well this is kind of a prologue-ish chapter so we'll get more into the characters later ;)

* * *

Full summary:

Experiment #027 of the Estraneo family was released by Rokudo Mukuro along with Ken Joshima and Chikusa Kakimoto. With nowhere else to go, he joins them on their mission to destroy the mafia. When Chrome is called upon to take the place of Mukuro in the Battle for the Mist Ring, Tsuna accompanies them and meets Hanatsu, the future Vongola Decimo and his Guardians. With his burning passion against the mafia, he makes new acquaintances and slowly, his opinion of them changes. Starts in the middle of the Varia arc. Semi-AU and slight All27, main 6927.

* * *

Ken and Chikusa led the way into the school's gymnasium. For once, Ken was acting serious and refrained from making to much noise. The moment they were seen by the Vongola guardians the air became thick with fear, curiosity, and frustration.

Gokudera tensed, preparing to attack the new arrivals.

"Y-you can't be saying the Guardian of the Mist Ring is..."

"Yeah. For them to bring him, that's..." Yamamoto had no trace of his usual smile on his face. The incident at Kokuyo had given them all a large amount of distrust for the two.

"As if...The Guardian of the Mist Ring is...Rokudo Mukuro?!" The future Vongola Decimo was surprised. Hadn't he beaten him? Wasn't he in prison?  
In response Ken and Chikusa only seemed...ashamed? They looked at the ground and moved out of the way for whoever was behind them to move forward.

"Negative." Two shadows moved into the light, making the their faces visible. The first one was a short brunette boy with spiky, gravity-defying hair. His brown eyes were wide but filled with a strong, burning determination. Reborn eyed the boy. He had seen no files on such a person being connected to Mukuro before and he had not been present during the time Mukuro was in Kokuyo.

The next person to enter was the one who had talked, a girl only a few centimeters shorter then the boy.  
Her purple hair was pulled into a pineapple-shape that reminded everyone of Mukuro. Her one large purple eye was calculating, but had a hint of fear in them as well. The other eye was covered with an eye patch with an interesting skull design.

"Huh?" Hanatsu's(1) eyes widened. He didn't recognize either of the two. If it wasn't Rokudo Mukuro, then who was his Mist Ring Guardian?

"My name is Chrome. Chrome Dokuro." The girl spoke again and walked towards group of Vongola Guardians.

"Who's the girl with the extremely weird name?" Ryohei inquired.  
"Someone you know Natsu?" Yamamoto was the next one to speak.

"Ehh...Hey, Guardian of the Mist Ring...This girl isn't Mukuro Rokudo right?" Hanatsu wanted to trust his new Guardian. Aren't they supposed to be family?  
Ken and Chikusa displayed small signs of annoyance, but at what no one could tell. The mystery boy only stood between the two watching Chrome and the Vongola Guardians for their reactions.

"Don't be fooled Juudaime! That's Mukuro! He's just possessing her! He's the kind of man that does whatever it takes to accomplish his objective!"  
The Guardians were once again reminded of when they themselves had been possessed by Mukuro. While possessed by him they had been forced to battle Hanatsu.

"You don't believe me?" Chrome seemed distraught at the distrust that was directed at her.  
"Of course not! Juudaime, look at her weapon! She's just hiding the strange eye with an eye-patch. This is definitely..."

Suddenly Hanatsu perked up. His "Vongola" intuition was nagging at him. "This isn't Rokudo Mukuro." he said firmly.

Gokudera turned around from his position in front of Hanatsu, surprised. "R-really?"  
"Well, it's just a hunch..." Hanatsu was surprised by how he was so sure that his intuition was correct.

Chrome stepped closer to Hanatsu. "You're defending me! Thank you." The pineapple-haired girl grasped his hand firmly, her eye filled with overflowing resolve.(2)

"What are you doing?!" Gokudera immediately became protective of his boss.  
"Maa, maa." Yamamoto grabbed him from behind and held him in place to stop him from attacking the new Mist Guardian. The rest of the people in the gym were only confused(Ryohei), curious(Basil), bored(Varia), and passive(Kokuyo). Gokudera continued to struggle in Yamamoto's grip and shout at Chrome and Yamamoto while the former was oblivious as to what she had done to warrant such treatment.

The Varia talked amongst themselves on their opinion of the "show" taking place in front of them. Xanxus sat in his signature chair, obviously thinking of how weak the trash in front of him was. Mammon merely observed his/her(3) opponent, finding her quite an interesting character as Phantasma prepared for the upcoming fight.

The Guardians and the Kokuyo gang then began to argue on whether to accept the new Guardian. Ken and Chikusa were offended that Gokudera refused to acknowledge their Guardian. The mystery boy continued to observe. The argument continued until Hanatsu settled it and the Battle started.

* * *

The matching Cervello explained the basic rules of the upcoming battle. The Vongola and Kokuyo stood together inside a barrier on one side of the room and the Varia in the other, each equipped with an infrared sensor to stop any interference from the surrounding spectators.

When the battle finally started, the two Mist Guardians threw illusion after illusion at each other. While both affected the unprepared observers, Chrome's illusions were unable to harm the Varia member.

Chrome however, was able to fool Mammon and escape from his/her illusions unharmed. Having used an illusion of her own to make a basket full of basketballs appear and act in her image. Ken smiled triumphantly as Chikusa and the other boy watched the fight silently.  
The Vongola Guardians were surprised and confused. Reborn proceeded to explain the battle of illusions taking place before them.

As Hanatsu continued his internal debate on whether to trust Chrome or not, Mammon suddenly dropped chains from beneath his/her cloak.

"Let's go, Phantasma." The frog upon his/her head started to crack, and from the shell emerged a sickly yellow and white snake. The snake then bit it's own tail, resembling an ouroboros.

Two triangular purple tattoos appeared on Mammon's cheeks and he/she revealed his/her indigo pacifier. Phantasma floated above Mammon's head as he/she ascended to the air.

Reborn and Colonello recognized the strange infant, reintroducing him/her as Viper, the Mist Arcobaleno. Chrome was visibly distraught by this, knowing how strong the Arcobaleno were. The Varia(mostly Bel and Levi) stood by anxiously waiting for Mammon's true power to be released.

"This is bad. Your average illusionist won't have a chance against that nut, kora." Colonello was worried. Viper was a talented illusionist, if not the most powerful.

"Don't underestimate her Colonello. Chrome isn't your average illusionist." Reborn reassured him.

"I don't care who you are! I won't lose!"

Since her illusions had little affect on Mammon, Chrome began to use the trident that she had been carrying. Mammon easily evaded all of these attacks, using Phantasma to fly.

"It's futile to wave that stick around when you can't fly. Such an earnest attack." Mammon taunted Chrome.

On the ground Chrome summoned four large snakes out of nowhere and they wrapped themselves around the Arcobaleno.  
"What?! It's not an illusion?" The snakes were completely real.

The Vongola spectators watched in amazement. And wasn't that the same technique that Mukuro had used? Hanatsu was confused because Chrome resembled Mukuro so much, but his intuition was telling him they were separate people.

Meanwhile, Mammon's indigo pacifier glowed brighter and released enough power to free him/herself from the snakes.  
"I suppose I should get around to releasing my power too. I can take my time investigating your identity afterwards."

In response, Chrome twirled her trident around before bringing the base to the floor of the gymnasium. Red, hot spots appeared on the ground before erupting and turning into miniature volcanoes spewing lava. One such "volcano" appeared directly underneath Mammon, making a direct hit.

"It won't be good enough." Reborn said.

* * *

Mammon easily moved out of the lava unharmed.  
"Your illusions are certainly top-notch. I'd undoubtebly be burned to a crisp if I believed them. But that means your weakness also lies in illusions!"

The lava suddenly turned to ice and the whole gym appeared to now be frozen.  
Slowly, the ice crept upon Chrome until her legs completely covered in a thick layer of ice.

All of the Kokuyo members appeared slightly distraught but continued watching the fight as they and the other spectators shivered from the cold.

"How do you like the abominable power of the Arcobaleno? Now why don't we reveal your real identity?"

Mammon made a gesture with his/her hand and Chrome was knocked back against one of the ice pillars. The ice disappeared leaving only an inconspicuous and normal looking gym.

Chrome lunged towards her trident that had fallen out of her grasp and onto the floor.

"It appears that weapon is especially valuable to you. Heh." Chrome's eyes widened as she realized what he/she was implying.

"N-no..." Mammon merely held his/her hand in front of him/her and made a fist.

"No!" But it was too late. She could only watch as the trident that she had been holding shattered to pieces.

When the trident broke Chrome collapsed to the floor, looking pale and sickly.

Where her stomach should be, started to cave in, and she struggled to breath.

"M-Mukuro...sama..."

"What's happening? Who is this girl?" So Mammon didn't know what was going on either.

"Mukuro-sama..."

"It's hard to believe, but she's able to survive because of illusionary organs." Mammon explained after investigation.

The Kokuyo gang went on alert, wishing they weren't stuck in the barrier. Even the unknown boy was clenching his fists, glaring at Mammon.

"I wanted to help...Mukuro-sama..."

Hanatsu suppressed a shiver. Something was wrong, very wrong. It almost felt like...him?  
Although no one payed attention to him, the brunette who had entered with the Kokuyo acted anxious. He could feel his presence. So close, oh so close.

Not sensing _ him_ the Varia were disappointed that the battle had not lasted longer.

But then, smoke was released from the Chrome's sleeves as she laid on the floor, almost dead.

Mammon scoffed that it was her futile attempt to hide her unsightly body using her illusions.

"He's coming..." Two people said at once but with two different tones, catching the attention of everyone in the gym.

The first was Hanatsu. He was shaking whilst holding his head, fear radiating from his figure.

The second was the unnamed brunette. Unlike Hanatsu, he seemed almost _giddy_. A creepy grin broke across his face as he began to laugh.

"He's coming..._he's coming!_"

The laughter was not comical, but instead laced with insanity. It echoed through the room and raised hairs upon many.

"It's him..." Hanatsu ignored him, to busy focusing on the intuition that was screaming at him.  
_Run, run, run away!_ It said.

"Rokudo Mukuro!" This caught everyones attention.

* * *

"Kufufu..."

Suddenly the once broken trident slammed into the ground causing cracks to appear on the floor. The cracks continued, moving towards the Mist Arcobaleno.

"What? A man's voice?" The force of the unexpected attack sent Mammon flying across the gym.

"Rather flashy...For a bunch of mafiosi..." Mukuro emerged from the mist where Chrome had once been.  
The boy who had been laughing earlier seemed overjoyed at his appearance though once again, he was ignored in favor of the appearance of the pineapple haired illusionist.

"Rokudo Mukuro? I thought that name sounded familiar. Now I remember. About a month ago, someone tried to escape from Vendice Penitentiary. His name was Rokudo Mukuro."

Levi had heard of Vendice Penitentiary before. Any mafioso should know of the Iron Wall. It was said to be inescapable, and the guards invincible.

"But the attempted escape ended in failure. What's more, I heard he was confined in the basement, beyond the reach of light or sound; an even more difficult place to escape from."

Mukuro said nothing in response, only smirking slightly.

Ken was baring his teeth in frustration, remembering the attempted escape.

"That shows how limited the information network of the Vongola's glorious "special assassination squad" truly is. Here I stand before you."

"Yeah, and your a pain. Fine. But let's make one thing clear... You're just an illusion attached to the girl."

Mammon used Phantasma to float higher in the air. Then, he/she created an illusion of a blizzard to envelop the gym.  
"I'm not nice enough to let myself lose to an illusion created by another illusionist." Mammon stated.

"Oya?" Mukuro looked down at his feet to see them covered in ice, similar to Chrome.

"Oya, oya..." The ice continued to grow until it encased his whole body, solidifying him.

"Now then... Shall I unmask you?" Mammon created an illusion of an iron hammer from his/her hood.

"I'll be shattering that girl's body, though." Not sounding the least bit sorry, Mammon flew forward to break the ice and Mukuro together.

But before the hammer could hit, lotus blossoms and vines wrapped themselves tightly around Mammon. The freezing illusion disappeared and Mukuro stepped out of the ice.

"Kufufufufufu... Who are you calling an illusion?" Mukuro smirked at the prone figure of Mammon that was suspended in the air by the vines.

"So powerful...It hurts..." Mammon struggled as the vines continued to tighten.

The Varia seemed to be less worried about Mammon and more curious about Mukuro.

"He's overwhelming Viper." Colonello for once, did not use 'kora!'.

"That's Tsuna's Guardian of the Mist Ring: Rokudo Mukuro." Reborn said with a hint of pride.

So if it is him, then what happened to Chrome? The Guardians wondered.

"You can't think of Chrome and Mukuro as seperate beings. Mukuro exists because of Chrome. Chrome exists because of Mukuro." Reborn 'explained'.  
The Guardians only became more confused as they contemplated this new information.  
_Right now, it's the only_ way...

In the fight Mammon was still trapped by Mukuro's vines.  
"How will you escape this predicament, Arcobaleno? If you dawdle too long, you'll be skewered." Mukuro warned tauntingly.

Finally, Mammon called upon his/her power and released it to escape.

"Don't get full of yourself!" Mammon yelled as he/she created multiple illusions of him/herself to confuse Mukuro.

"Too weak." Mukuro's right eye changed Paths and an indigo flame appeared around it. He proceeded to use his trident to hit all of the clones and break the illusion.

Hanatsu recognized this skill. It was the skill of combat aura, Asura.

"An illusionist capable of hand-to-hand combat? Inconceivable!" Mammon scoffed as he/she backed off from his/her opponent.  
"I reject you and your Paths of Rebirth!"

"Oh?" Not sounding worried, Mukuro looked at Mammon.

"A human repeats the same life eternally! That's why I collect money!" Phantasma began to circle in place and a blinding speed and an illusion once more took over the gym and it's inhabitants.

"Hahaha! Greedy little Arcobaleno, aren't you? How amusing. But I'm just as greedy." Mukuro spun his trident and slammed it into the ground, creating illusions of fire pillars similar to Chrome's. His however, were wrapped with the same lotus vines that had nearly strangled Mammon.

Both Varia members and Vongola alike began to experience pain from the long amount of time they had spent in strong illusions. The Kokuyo fared slightly better but were affected nonetheless.

Hanatsu fell to the floor and foreign memories flooded into his mind. He saw Mukuro's body in Vendice, the attempted prison escape in which Mukuro had allowed Ken and Chikusa to leave him behind, and his own father requesting Mukuro in Chrome's body to be his Mist Guardian.

The memories stopped and Hanatsu once again found himself on the floor.

"Mukuro..."

* * *

Mammon created clones of himself that charged at Mukuro. Using his trident, Mukuro easily destroyed them all.

"You're mine." The real Mammon was behind Mukuro. Phantasma expanded and Mammon opened his/her cloak, revealing a large dark void.

The cloak swallowed Mukuro before he could react and the snake grew spikes and thrust them into part of the cloak Mukuro was.

"Mukuro-san!" Ken and Chikusa gasped while the brunette between them merely smiled, as if he knew a secret that no one else knew.

Hanatsu stared in horror, unable to believe that what had happened before his eyes was real.

Then, the strange "cloak" expanded suddenly, and one could see something struggling underneath.

"Impossible!" Mammon's cloak and Phantasma were destroyed as lotus vines ripped through them, revealing an unharmed Mukuro holding the two parts of the Vongola Mist Ring.

"Die. And be reborn."

"Impossible! Mammon is..." Levi couldn't believe it. How could Mammon be defeated?

The Vongola were amazed at the power Mukuro had. Ken and Chikusa relaxed as the brunette placed his small hands on their shoulders.

"I put these two rings together right?" Mukuro inquired.

The two Cervello turned to each other before answering.  
"Yes."

"Not yet." Mammon's voice echoed through the gym.

Mukuro merely smirked as he saw the dust scattered through the room gather itself to form Mammon.

"Don't get too cocky. I was going easy on you... I have so much more power to reveal!" Mammon gasped as he/she saw that Mukuro was no longer in front of him/her. Instead he/she could hear his voice behind him/her.

"Here I thought you knew..." When Mammon turned around Mukuro was no longer there.

"When you turn an illusion back on the illusionist, it means the illusionist has completely lost control of his perceptions." Mammon gasped again. Phantasma suddenly appeared back to his normal size and began to strangle the surprised Arcobaleno.

"Stop, Phantasma!" But his/her efforts were in vain as the snake only tightened it's grip on it's owner.

"Now then... Care to show me your true power?" The illusion that was wrapped around the gym strengthened and the floor began to deteriorate faster.

"Come." The ground that Mammon had been standing on was destroyed and he/she began to fall into the red void.

Mammon tried to scream, but it came out as a strangled cry as he/she continued to fall.

* * *

"Hahaha! Well, Arcobaleno? Do you like my world?" Mukuro laughed and turned into smoke that forced it's way into Mammon's mouth.

Mammon expanded to an abnormal size and his/her body was distorted until he/she was no longer recognizable.

"Stop it, I'll die! I'll die!" Mammon begged.

"You lost for one simple reason: I was your opponent."

The black mass that had been Mammon exploded in smoke. The illusion faded and the gym returned to normal.  
Mukuro gracefully landed on the floor.

"Will this do?" He opened his hand to reveal the now whole Mist Ring while looking at the Cervello.

"The Mist Ring now belongs to Chrome Dokuro. As a result, she is the victor of this match." The Cervello announced.

"Viper was..." Colonello was amazed.  
"Blown to smithereens, huh?" Belphegor on the other side of the room finished, snickering at the defeat of his 'comrade'.

"No way!" Hanatsu exclaimed. "You didn't have to go that far!"

"Must you insist on showing pity for your enemies? You're a hopelessly naive man, Sawada Hanatsu. Let's just say you needn't worry."

"Eh?" Hanatsu was confused.  
"The infant escaped. He saved enough strength to flee. Such a cunning Arcobaleno."

"Gola Mosca...Once the battle for the rings is over, eliminate Mammon." Xanxus spoke, a rarity in itself and he did not use "trash" or "scum", even rarer.

"You exemplify the darkness of the Mafia, Xanxus." The unknown boy flinched at this, the mafia brought back bad memories.

"Even I find your dreadful plan quite frightening." Xanxus' eyes twitched at this, wondering how he got that information at and what he would do with it.

"Fear not. I have no intention of interfering with _it_, since I don't happen to be a good person. But one thing: The smaller, weaker successor... I would prefer you didn't toy with him too much. Kufufu..."

* * *

Mukuro turned around and walked towards the other side of the gym.

"Mukuro-sama." Chikusa and Ken moved forward to greet him.

"Awesome! You kicked butt!" Ken shouted excitedly. The other brunette stayed quiet but clung to Mukuro's arm, almost desperately.

"You bastard! How dare you show your face here!" Gokudera held a handful of dynamite, poised for attack.  
"Nani?!" Ken bared his teeth.

"Oi Gokudera!" Yamamoto warned.

"Calm down!" Hanatsu exclaimed, slightly exasperated at his Storm Guardians actions.

"It would be wise of you to keep you guard up like that." Mukuro advised.  
"I have no intention of fraternizing with the Mafia. I simply became your Guardian of the Mist Ring to seize any opportunity to take over your body, Sawada Hanatsu."

_He's lying. _Hanatsu thought, looking at the brunette who was clinging to Mukuro. _That's not his only reason._

"So you're still..."  
"Hold on Gokudera!" Hanatsu attempted to calm his Storm.  
"Juudaime..." Gokudera said.

"Anways, arigatou." Hanatsu turned to Mukuro.

"I'm a tad bit weary." Mukuro's eyes began to close and his head droop.

"Take care of them for me..." The brunette tightened his hold on the body as Mukuro's image disappeared and Chrome returned unconscious.

"He turned back into a girl! What's going on?!" Ryohei exclaimed.

The Guardians were all confused. Had that been Chrome the whole time or had she been possessed by Mukuro?

"Ah! What about her organs?" Hanatsu asked hurriedly.

"Don't worry, she's fine." Reborn assured them. The spiky-haired boy nodded to them.

"She's asleep." Hanatsu was relieved that Chrome was fine.

"She collapses all the time. This is why humans suck." Ken said.

"Ken stop it. Help me carry her." The brunette reprimanded.  
"Tsuna..." Chikusa said softly.

_Tsuna? Is that his name? _Hanatsu and Reborn thought.

'Tsuna' forced the other two to carry Chrome's body as he held her trident and directed them through the exit, only stiffly acknowledging the Vongola before leaving.

_So... his name's Tsuna. I'm gonna need to investigate him. How did he hide himself so well? _Reborn thought.

* * *

(1): Hanatsu is basically Tsuna in this universe. Less dame and more average. A basic description of his appearance would be about 165 cm. so taller then Tsuna but shorter then Yamamoto. Flat-not spiky- blonde hair, brown eyes. So while Tsuna resembles Nana(They aren't related in this), Hanatsu looks more like Iemitsu.  
'Hanatsu' means fire, free, and release in Japanese. I also wanted to use a name that had "natsu" in it, so this fit perfectly :)  
(2): Changed some of the scenes to fit the change in characters. Also, Chrome doesn't call Hanatsu 'Boss'. Why? Because I said so. Instead Sawada-sama/dono _maybe_.  
(3): I've tried very hard to find out if Mammon/Viper is a girl or a boy in canon, but it's never been stated clearly. I _think_ he/she might be male but I'm not entirely sure! Feel free to tell me whether you want Mammon to be stated as a "he" or a "she" and I'll change it to whatever people want most :b

a/n: I'm so happy I could cry! My very first fic xD  
Tsuna's character and abilities will be explained in the next chapter so please bear with me |x  
Constructive criticism is completely welcome. Heh, I'd even accept flames if someone would at least spend their time reading this!  
I tried coming up with an idea that hadn't been used before. If anyone has seen a KHR fic similar to this, could you please tell me what it's called so I can read it and make sure there are differences between them? That would be a great help :] I'll probably update in the next couple of days, especially if I get good reviews~


	2. Experiment 027

I was originally gonna write this later, but I wanted to get a few chapters up before school started again.

Hmm... I think I kept Mukuro and Reborn in character but it's always hard to tell xP Please tell me if I need to make any corrections.

Hopefully this chapter will answer some of your questions about Tsuna. Lot's of flashbacks, and I tried to make vague hints at things.

Certain words have been placed to unconsciously help you understand some stuff. If someone can point them all out, I'll give you a virtual hug!

Disclaimer: I don't even understand most Japanese words so...yeah. I don't own KHR! orz *Cries in the corner*

* * *

_"Nothing can belong to someone like you. You can't achieve anything. You can't become anything. You can't! You just can't! Because you are nothingness... Because you destroy everything!"  
_-Pandora Hearts Manga (I would tell you guys who says this but for those who haven't read it and might later I don't want to spoil it)

* * *

The four Kokuyo members marched back to their hideout.

Tsuna, being the only conscious Mist user, wrapped a light illusion around them to avoid unwanted attention.

Stopping now for a short break, they bought more food rations to last for the rest of the week. As usual, the food only consisted of snacks and other junk food.

But it was better than _that_ time. Anything was better than the torture he had been through for the first nine years of his life.

Tsuna shivered at the memories. Chikusa noticed his discomfort and placed a hand on his small shoulder, a silent question. Tsuna turned his head a fraction and smiled gratefully at the other boy.

"Ah! Hurry up byon!" Ken was getting impatient because he was secretly worried about Chrome.

Grabbing the bags of food, Chrome, and Chrome's trident, they continued walking.

* * *

_.*_-5 years earlier-_*.  
_

_Loud screams echoed through the hallways._

_No one flinched or even seemed curious about the noises. This was a normal, everyday occurrence. Nothing strange, nothing out of the ordinary.  
_

_"No! STOP IT! PLEASE!" A young boy was strapped tightly to a metal table. He had been in the Estraneo's "care" since he was four years old.  
_

_His own mother had sold him. His own father had abandoned him. His own sister had beaten him and called him useless. The other children in the neighborhood had made fun of him like his sister and the nearby adults had done nothing in their power to even lend a hand to him.  
_

_The boy had, at one point, been known as Akirameru Tsunayoshi. Here, his only name was Experiment #027.  
_

_Small needle holes and surgical scars covered his pale body, from his head to his feet. Some looked old, and others had been given but seconds ago.  
_

_All at once #027 felt like he had been thrown into boiling hot water and then put into a room of absolute zero(1) temperature.  
_

_Another scientist leered over him. This one held held yet another syringe. The liquid was inserted into #027 and he slowly felt his senses numb until he could no longer move his body. As he panicked, trying to move his arms, his vision slowly faded around him.  
_

_His eyelids were forcefully held open and the last thing he saw before blacking out was the surgical tools touching his eye.  
_

* * *

_Mukuro's heterochromatic eyes narrowed.  
_

_The scientists that had been checking on him had left a while ago, running to who knows where. They had left Mukuro unrestrained and the door had been unlocked. Whatever was happening must be dangerous. But despite this, Mukuro continued exploring deeper into the labs that he had once tortured in, tightly gripping his trident(2).  
_

_If all of the workers were truly gone, then why were all of the test subjects still here? He happened to pass by the cells where the less human experiments were kept. _

_Instead of growling or acting hostile, they cowered in their cages and tried to stay as far away from the light as possible. Some were strange crossbreeds such as ligers and reptilian-looking chicken. Others were missing limbs, eyes, and other body parts. _

_Mukuro knew without further investigation that all of them were given drugs to make them stronger and give them unnatural powers.  
_

_ He felt pity for them, but he knew that pity would not change them back to what they once were.  
_

_Continuing into the maze of corridors, he happened to pass by a heavy looking door that was halfway open, just enough for a person to walk through. Some strange noises could be heard in the room behind the door.  
_

_He recognized this area as the lab where dangerous experiments were made. It was the same place they had forced him to go through the the Six Paths that now resided within his right eye.  
_

_Curious, Mukuro walked into the room to see a horrifying sight before him.  
_

_Mountains of corpses were strewn across the room. Each of them carried burns and were covered in congealing blood. The smell of cooking flesh permeated the normally cold air.  
_

_And in the middle of the sea of bodies laid a small child. The child was sobbing and held it's head in between it's hands as it punched the ground.  
_

_Breaking out of his trance staring at the dead scientists and guards, Mukuro noticed that the child's hands were covered in orange flames.  
_

_Approaching the stranger, he realized that the small and dainty child was a boy. He had spiky brown hair and when he looked up, bright orange eyes streaked with tears. Another flame like the ones on his hands were on his forehead as well.  
_

_Small holes probably made from syringes covered the parts of his body that wasn't covered by his thin clothes.  
_

_Then it clicked, this boy had killed all of these people. The same 'famiglia' who had experimented on them and countless others, torturing them and turning them into monsters.  
_

_Kneeling down, Mukuro ignored the burnt corpses around them and held the other boy in his arms. He wasn't sure what in the world had possessed him into doing it, but all he knew was that he felt indebted to the boy, and even more he wanted to protect him from ever feeling pain again.  
_

_The boy clutched onto him desperately like a lifeline. They continued this until the boy's crying slowed down. The flames that he had been covering his hands and had been on his forehead earlier had disappeared and his orange eyes faded to a light brown color.  
_

_Dragging him out of the room that had once acted as a cage to the both of them, Mukuro asked him a single question.  
_

_"What's your name Usagi-chan(3)?"  
_

_The boy hesitated slightly before speaking softly with a voice worn out from crying.  
_

_"I'm...#027...no...Tsunayoshi."  
_

_The boy turned to him and suddenly smiled. It was bright and lively, not at all fitting the image of his torn clothes and bloody body.  
_

_"But, you can call me Tsuna!"_

* * *

When they finally arrived at their not-so-secret hideout in Kokuyo Land, Tsuna was saddened that M.M. was not there to greet them.

While M.M. usually treated Mukuro the best out of all of them, she sometimes acted sisterly or motherly towards Tsuna, especially when he came back injured. (Which wasn't often mind you, only scratches.)

Chrome had regained consciousness a while ago, but she was still weak and needed to be supported by Ken and Chikusa.

Seeing the mostly empty room only furthered Tsuna's guilt. If only he hadn't been away at the time then none of this would've happened. He should've been there to protect Mukuro and the rest!

Instead Mukuro had broken out Birds, the Bloody Twins, and Lancia to find the new Vongola Decimo that was in Namimori.

The mission had seemed simple enough... Destroy the weak Decimo that was in some small town named Namimori in Japan and the Vongola with him. Fuuta, the ranking prince would give them the rankings of the top fighters at the school they believed he was hiding in and they would defeat them one by one.

But something had gone wrong. Mukuro had been defeated and Lancia who had been freed from his possession had aided the Vongola.

Tsuna's intuition had been wary of Lancia before, but this incident only confirmed to him that mafia like him were not to be trusted.

_He of all people... should have understood us the most. _

Shaking his head to 'clear' his thoughts like a board, Tsuna sat on the floor and opened one of the snacks that they had bought on their way over here.

_Melon bread?_ Tsuna snickered lightly and took a bite out of it. _If only it was pineapple flavored..._

* * *

_.*_-Before Namimori-_*.  
_

_"What?!" Tsuna looked at Mukuro shocked.  
_

_"Kufufu... I said you're not going to Namimori_ Tsunayoshi._" Tsuna flinched slightly at the use of his full name. Ever since that day five years ago he had always called him Tsuna. He only used that name when he was either angered(only once, and it wasn't his fault), or desperate._

_"But, why?" He wanted to know why. Why was he pushing him away?  
_

_"Oya, we already have Birds, the Bloody twins, and "Mukuro" going there. Another person would only get in the way." Mukuro tried to use a mocking tone but Tsuna could see through it, even without his artificial intuition._

_Tsuna's head hung limply as he digested this information. On one hand he wanted to abide by his wishes and make him happy, but on the other hand he wanted to protect Mukuro from whatever danger that the illusionist thought that_ he _needed protection from._

_"Alright." His voice was weak and he trembled like a fallen leaf in a breeze.  
_

_Mukuro nodded to show that he had heard him. "You'll be staying in France with some of the connections we have. We already got the ticket so head to the airport in the morning."  
_

* * *

_.*_-2 years earlier-_*.  
_

_"Fratello, look, look!" Tsuna was overjoyed as he and Mukuro walked through the streets of Italy. The two of them were currently covered in an illusion to look like brothers. Even without the cover Tsuna acted like this, so it wasn't much of a stretch.  
_

_They were currently investigating the whereabouts of some surviving Estraneo members. The new Estraneo could have escaped from the incident three years ago, but it was also likely they were only using the name because it was well-known. Either way it was their job to eliminate them.  
_

_Since night was approaching they returned to the hotel. They had gathered a significant amount of information from their contacts and had interrogated those that knew about the recent kidnappings. While the room was not luxurious it was cozy enough. If they had gotten a 5-star hotel it would've attracted the attention of the local mafia.  
_

_"Good night fratello...I love you."  
_

_Mukuro smirked.  
_

_"Good night_ mi amore_." _

* * *

It had been one week since the Battle for the Rings had ended.

For Hanatsu, it came as a relief that he wouldn't have to worry about fighting Xanxus or the rest of the Varia anymore.

Even though it was a Saturday, Reborn had woken him up early in the morning with his mallet saying something about how mafia bosses didn't sleep in and such.

Gokudera had come by earlier and a little after him Yamamoto. They had talked a bit, mostly Gokudera yelling at someone like Lambo or Yamamoto and then Hanatsu having to calm him. The two of them had already left an hour ago, leaving Hanatsu alone with his Devil-Spartan tutor Reborn.

While he would be more than happy to lounge around in his house and die of boredom, Reborn seemed to have other plans.

"Baka-Hanatsu, get dressed." As usual Leon in gun from was being pointed at him. Who had ever heard of getting forced to dress at gun point before? At least he hadn't.

Sighing, he gave in to the order and pulled on a random shirt and jeans.

When he was done getting dressed and he was sitting on a chair waiting for Reborn to explain, the door to his room opened.

A small spiky-haired brunette boy walked in. If Hanatsu hadn't known better he would think he was a girl because of his large eyes and small frame.

"Ciaossu. You're here earlier then I expected."

* * *

It had been one week since the Battle for the Rings had ended.

And Chrome had been injured _again_. Not only had Tsuna taken it upon himself to protect her, but he also saw her as a dear friend. She too had been abandoned by her family. The entire Kokuro gang was a group of misfits. No longer able to return to the normality of society.

Anyone who allowed his dear friends to get hurt needed to be punished. They would face such pain that they _wished _they were dead. Those stupid Vongola, bringing Mukuro and Chrome into their crazy mafia plans. The worst of them all was Sawada Hanatsu, the future Vongola Decimo.

Not only was he mafia, he was going to be the boss of the strongest famiglia in the world! Someone like that needed to be shown what would happen when you aren't a strong enough Sky to protect your Guardians.

Tsuna had seen how weak he was. Not in power, he had beaten Xanxus of the Varia! But his weakness lied in his unwillingness to lead. The potential was there, and Reborn the Sun Arcobaleno was working on him well, but a stubborn mule cannot be forced.

Sighing, Tsuna knew that all he could do was make him strong enough to protect Chrome from now on. While the thought of helping mafioso bothered him, it was too late to change Mukuro and Chrome's position as his Mist Guardian.

Reborn probably wouldn't be to bothered by the help, but Tsuna's intuition told him that the Arcobaleno would drop a load of questions on him.

Speak of the devil.

"Reborn, I know you're out there. Show yourself before I force you out." He stated bluntly.

"Ciaossu(4). How'd you know I was there?" Tsuna grinned.

"It was just my intuition." The Arcobaleno's eyes narrowed at this under his fedora.

"Hmph. So tell me, _Tsuna, _what are you doing here in Namimori?"

"Ah, you see, I'm actually here to see your student, _Arcobaleno._ I believe his name was Sawada Hanatsu?" Tsuna smiled cheekily.

Leon morphed into a gun and Reborn pointed it at the brunette.

"Who are you? I've never seen or heard of anyone like you connected to Mukuro, or the mafia at all."

"Impatient are we? Well I won't answer you now, but just know that I'm not going to harm the Decimo. In fact, I'm here to help you!"

"I doubt it." Smirking, Tsuna began to walk past Reborn, ignoring the gun aimed at his head.

"Well, we'll just have to see for ourselves won't we, ne?" The Sun Arcobaleno glared at the retreating brunette's back, wishing he could understand what was going through his head. He was almost impossible to read, even when he had been laughing insanely at the Mist Ring Battle.

* * *

Right now Tsuna was wearing a white sleeveless hoodie and jeans as he walked through the open streets of Namimori.

Compared to Kyoto, which Tsuna vaguely remembered from his early childhood, Namimori was small and all of it's inhabitants seemed to know each other.

If he hadn't wrapped another illusion around himself, he would probably be the center of a crowd. Dodging this and that passerby, Tsuna maneuvered to the Sawada residence.

Knocking lightly on the door, he waited for a few seconds before a woman with short brown hair answered the door.

"Ahh, you must be a friend of Ha-kun! Come in and make yourself at home." The woman smiled cheerfully at him, happy that her son had yet another friend.

"You could say that." Tsuna smiled back and was led into the living room.

_Sawada Nana. Mother of Sawada Hanatsu- future Vongola Decimo. Wife of Sawada Iemitsu- Head of CEDEF and Vongola Outside Advisor. Age: 34. Date of Birth: March 31. Blood Type: O._

Tsuna blinked his eyes to erase the information from his vision.

"Na-kun should be up in his room right now. You can go up there and talk to him, I'll bring some snacks up late."

"Thank you." Tsuna made his way up the stairs and opened the door to what his intuition told him was Hanatsu's room.

* * *

"Ciaossu. You're here earlier then I expected." Tsuna only nodded in response.

"Eh? Reborn, who is this? Someone you know?" Hanatsu vaguely remembered the brunette as the one who had been accompanied Chrome in the Battle for the Rings.

_What was his name, Tuna? _

"Baka-Hanatsu. This is Tsuna. He'll be here to help train you to become a strong boss." For once, Tsuna showed open thoughts on his face. Irritation shadowed by a smile.

When had he offered to train him? Of course that had been his intention, but Reborn was practically forcing him to do it now!

Hanatsu could sense the strong emotions of his new 'tutor' and shivered as he made a scary face. Small as he was, his intuition told him not to underestimate him.

"But, don't I already have Reborn for that? No offense, but I think his spartan training is more then enough." As much as Hanatsu hated his training, he had to admit that it helped him a lot.

"Well, since Reborn does not use flames, I will be training you in that aspect." Reborn tilted his fedora down lower. He hadn't known that. But at least it told him he used flames.

"So, first the two of you will spar to test out your abilities." Reborn announced. Tsuna knew what his intention was. To learn more about him and teach Decimo at the same time, perfect.

"W-What?" But before the protests could start, Reborn wacked him on the head with his mallet.

"Rebooooorn, you didn't need to hit me _that_ hard!"

"Stop complaining baka-Hanatsu. Mafia boss's don't complain."

Sighing Hanatsu looked at the third person in the room. He was smiling softly at their exchange and met his gaze evenly.

Tsuna asked,

"So, when?"

"When what?"

"When will we fight?"

"...Umm..."

The blond turned to Reborn for help. Reborn sighed and raised his head to look at the other two.

"Right now. Follow me." Tsuna nodded. Reborn leaped off his place on Hanatsu's bed and made his way down the stairs. Tsuna followed him with Hanatsu close behind.

"Mom, me and Reborn are going out with a friend. I'm not sure when we'll be back!" He called out. His mother smiled and wished him luck as he closed the door behind him.

* * *

Reborn was sitting on Tsuna's head which annoyed him slightly.

_I'm doing all of this to protect Chrome and the rest. If Chrome got hurt I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. Even if he's mafia it'll be worth it if I can protect Chrome.  
_ He chanted this in his mind as he resisted the urge to grab Reborn off his head and toss him off the mountain.

Yes, they were climbing a mountain. If this were a normal fight, the nearby forest would have been a fine place to fight. But in a battle with flame users, the whole town of Namimori could easily be burned to a crisp. So...a mountain.

The whole trip, Hanatsu had been thinking about how the fight would go. He had never seen the other in a battle so he didn't even know what his flame type was.

He looked physically weak, so it was possible he used guns or small daggers. But then again, looks could be deceiving as well.

No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible to read the brunette. He was apparently respected by the Kokuyo gang if the incident after the Mist Ring Battle was anything to judge by. And, that group in particular seemed to value the strong.

His thoughts however, were interrupted as they reached their destination. The ground here was leveled and even. The two fighters went to opposite sides of the rough field.

Hanatsu grabbed the mittens and container of Dying Will Pills that he always kept in his pockets in case of an emergency. Slipping the mittens over his hands and swallowing two pills, he entered HDWM. His mittens turned into the X-Gloves and he got into his fighting position.

Tsuna, stood by doing nothing as he watched his opponent.

Reborn could only wonder what weapon he would use. He didn't seem to be carrying anything but the clothes on his back.

Leon morphed into a gun and Reborn pointed it towards the sky.

"Start!"

* * *

(1):_ "a theoretical temperature characterized by complete absence of heat and motion and equivalent to exactly −273.15°C or −459.67°F"_ -Merriam Webster  
(2): Okay, I'm not sure exactly how Mukuro got his Paths of Rebirth power or trident, because it's never been really explained in the anime or manga. In a flashback of Mukuro right after he killed all the Estraneo's you can see him holding a smaller version of his trident. So, I've decided to be vague about my answer of where he got it and his Paths :P  
(3): Japanese for rabbit. -chan is Japanese honorific, usually used on girls. Look them up if you don't know them since I'll be using them a lot :D  
(4): I know in the manga it's spelled Chaos. The reason behind this I believe is because Japanese is read in syllables. So 'Ciao' is pronounced the same as 'Chao' and 'su' is how 's' is pronounced in Japanese. If you think about how Japanese tend to talk in Engrish it makes sense. Ciaossu I think is canon so I'm using that.

In the manga, I've also seen Vongola spelled as Bongole. And I'm _pretty _sure a mafia famiglia wouldn't name themselves that. Translators must have a tough time :L

I was kinda tired of seeing characters like Mochida and M.M. being staged as a mini-antagonists so I made her into a more of a sister figure to Tsuna.  
Because who can resist Tsuna's moe-ness? And remember, Tsuna joined Mukuro before M.M. so she has respect for him, and it helps that he doesn't cause as much trouble as Ken. To explain further, this changes her perspective on Chrome as well. Tsuna became a domino affect to make a hated character into good one! Yay~

For those wondering about Tsuna's last name I read that it means to abandon or give up. Kinda like his family.

Sorry if there's a lot of line-breaks but I wanted to cover as much ground as possible before Tsuna actually gets to meet Vongola.

This is my _first_ fic so I would appreciate any and all reviews, especially the ones with some constructive criticism. (Are flames considered constructive criticism? Yes, as long as you state what you dislike!)  
Now before anyone asks, yes Tsuna will get to meet the other Guardians. All in due time, all in due time.

**Sorry for any 8059 or D18 or other pairings like that, but they won't be in this fic. Especially not 1869/6918.**

After I finish another few chapters of this I'm thinking about using one of the less well-known 27 pairings. Feel free to give me suggestions on the pairings and plots~

I really like Adult!ArcobalenoxTsuna :) Tsuna's so sweet he's compatible with all of them in a way xD


	3. Storm: Protector and Protected

Surprise! Yes, three whole chapters up already! I tried to keep the word count for all them about the same. Around 4k is about where I end it :P

So this chapter will be Tsuna vs. Natsu and then some quality time with the Guardians. Shounen ai, no smut. (1. I can't write it well and 2. I don't want it to get taken down)

* * *

"_Red accepts Blue entirely._" -Remember 11 **[NO 8059!]**

* * *

_.*-_Last chapter_-*.  
_

_"Start!"_

* * *

Hanatsu rushed towards his opponent, using his flames to propel himself forward.

He tried throwing punches at Tsuna, but he easily evaded all of them with little effort. Sidestepping, blocking, but never going offensive.

This dance continued for a good five minutes. Reborn for one, was about ready to sleep. The only thing that would give him away would be the bubble on his nose. He slept with his eyes open.

But Tsuna surprised them by suddenly lashing out an attack upon his opponent. Unlike usual, his eyes were a bright orange, a similar yet lighter shade of Hanatsu's own.

Sky Dying Will Flames were also on his forehead and hands. So he was handling them without gloves and wasn't getting burnt. He even got into HDWM without pills or bullets!

Mist flames appeared for a brief second before forming two twin daggers. He held them similarly to Hibari's tonfas.

Instead of waiting for Hanatsu to process the new information, he launched furious attacks against him. He gave no time for the Decimo to get into position for either of the Zero Point Breakthroughs. Small beams of fire appeared out of his hands between slashes and by the next minute, the victor was obvious.

He was using the first five minutes to observe his fighting style? Smart choice for a kid.

While he had defeated his opponent, he had tried to keep the injuries to a minimum. So he was _holding back_ as well.

Reborn couldn't help but smirk, tilting his fedora down to give a shadowy effect.

But the surprises weren't over. Leaning down beside the injured Hanatsu, Tsuna lit his hands with Sun flames and began to heal him. The flame on his head also turned to a yellow color. When he was done he picked up the now unconscious future Decimo(which looked quite strange since the one he was carrying was bigger than himself) and walked towards Reborn.

"So _Reborn_, just what exactly have you been teaching the boy this whole time?" The brunette sneered.

"Don't underestimate him." Was Reborn's blunt response.

"Oh? But the one I think I _overestimated_ was you." Reborn lowered his fedora to cover his face. Ignoring the comment he jumped up toward the nearest tree and made his way back to town. There, he would call Vongola to see if they had any new leads on Hanatsu's new tutor.

Sighing, Tsuna knew what Reborn was asking of him. Making his way back down the mountain, he wondered when was the next time he would be able to hang out with Chrome and the others again. Probably not soon, Reborn would force him to stay with him and the mafia children at the Sawada residence.

Of course if he wanted to train Decimo to become stronger this would work in his favor. After all, none of the mafia would ever be able to find _Akiramer__u _Tsunayoshi. He had forsaken that name long ago. Those people were not his family, and neither did they consider him theirs. The fact that the Akirameru family in Kyoto ever had a boy named Tsunayoshi was widely unknown. When he was sold to the local yakuza by them, all of his records had been secretly destroyed. He no longer existed.

"Oi! What are you doing to Juudaime!" Oh great. Some idiot had decided to interrupt his trip down the hell that was his memory lane. And without turning around, he knew exactly who that idiot was.

"Hayato, I was asked by Reborn to return him home." Not the truth, not a lie. Keep a perfect smile.

Gokudera spluttered at the mention of Reborn's name and blushed at his smile before recognizing him.

"You! You were that kid at the Mist Ring Battle! Get your filthy hands off Juudaime!" Gokudera pulled out his bombs. The only thing that stopped him from launching them was the fact that his target was holding Hanatsu.

"No can do Hayato. You see, I'm here to train him to get stronger and control his flames." Zero Point Breakthrough is a good technique, but he needs much more to beat opponents that might not use flames like Xanxus. People like Hibari Kyoya for example only used his tonfas and was considered one of the stronger tenth generation guardians.

Before more protests could be made, Tsuna started running at a speed that rivaled light. A blur, Gokudera could only watch in awe at the retreating figure before making his way to the Sawada residence.

* * *

Not even breaking a sweat, Tsuna arrived at Hanatsu's house. Setting down the Decimo for a second, he knocked on the door similarly to a few hours ago.

"Oh Na-kun's friend again?" Nana opened the door.

Tsuna nodded. "Yeah, Natsu fell asleep on our trip and I carried him back." Nana motioned him into the house and opened the door to Hanatsu's room.

"Reborn mentioned that you had nowhere else to stay. Is that correct?" Tsuna sweat-dropped. It wasn't exactly true, but it would help give him a reason to stay here.

"Yes ma'am." Nana nodded and turned to him smiling.

"Then why don't you stay with us for awhile?" Tsuna returned the smile.

"That would be great. Thank you very much."

"Then I'll show you to your room later. If you have any stuff, feel free to bring it over whenever." Exiting the room, she left Tsuna in Hanatsu's room.

He knew that Hayato would be coming here soon, he might've even told the other Guardians. But wait, this was Gokudera he was talking about. Of course he didn't. Well, easier on him.

Deciding his course of action, Tsuna could sense Reborn's presence on the roof. Probably still trying to find information on him. It wasn't that he was worried about himself, he was worried that it might hinder his plans to release Mukuro from Vendice.

And nothing would separate him from that goal.

This would be great chance to train some of Decimo's Guardians. Hayato was better at using dynamites after the Battle for the Rings but he needed training for close range attacks. After all, we couldn't have Hayato blowing himself up in order protect his precious 'Juudaime' no can we?

He wouldn't need much. A bit of martial arts training could help him get distance between him and his opponents. Getting him a gun could be helpful as well.

But that was all for later. For now he had to calm down the Storm's head and gain his trust. If he started following him around even a fraction of the way he did to Natsu, he would have to control himself to make sure he didn't kill Hayato by accident.

Opening the front door, Tsuna found himself in front of a surprised Gokudera, arm extended as if to knock on the now open door.

"Ahh...Hayato. Natsu is sleeping right now, so why don't we take this little chat somewhere else?"

"Hmph. Whatever kid."

"That's rude Hayato! Y'know, I'm as old as you guys!" Tsuna led the way to a more secluded part of town. Gokudera ignored the comment and followed him.

_This freak... At the Mist Ring Battle he was with the Kokuyo and that woman. I'll eliminate him before he can become a threat to Juudaime!_

Tsuna honestly respected Gokudera for his devotion to Decimo. If he could teach him to utilize that to grow stronger, all the better.

Arriving at their destination Tsuna turned around to face Gokudera. They were at an empty abandoned parking lot.

"So Hayato..." Gokudera tensed and grabbed his dynamite. From where, it was a mystery.

"Would you like to go on a date?" At this Gokudera thought he had hit his head. Or it was all a dream. Yeah, a terrible dream.

"W-w-WHAT?!" Tsuna acted oblivious to his reactions.

"Hn? I thought it would be a nice way for us to get to know each other. I know a place nearby that we can go."

Gokudera spluttered and his face was completely red. A date? With a _guy?! _(A guy that could pass as a girl but still)

While he was distracted, Tsuna grabbed his arm and pulled him the rest of the way towards their next destination.

* * *

A short time later while the Storm Guardian was still stuck on the idea of going on a date, the arrived at a place where nothing but sunflowers could be seen for miles.

Gokudera broke out of his thoughts as he stared at the flowers, entranced.

"W-where are we?"

"Haha! Silly Hayato, we're at a flower field!" His smile was brighter than the yellow flowers behind him.

"I-I know that? But why?!" Tsuna pursed his lips in thought and put a finger to his cheek.

"Well, I thought it would be a good place to talk. So sit!" He sat down on the grass and Gokudera grudgingly complied.

"So kid, what did you do to Juudaime?!"

"Hayato, I told you, Reborn asked me to carry him home after some training."

"But why were _you _there? I'm his right hand man!" Gokudera scoffed. Reborn wouldn't need the help of this weakling.

"Hehehe...Hayato." Gokudera looked up again to see that the flower field had vanished. He was surrounded by nothing but black.

"Why did you join the mafia...Hayato?" The voice, that _kid's _voice echoed through the darkness.

"To prove myself!" He shouted. There was no one else there, but he knew the voice came from _somewhere_.

"To who? Your father? Your mother? How about your _half _sister? Shamal, your hero?" The voice was slightly mocking.

"To Juudaime! So get me the f*ck out of here before I blow it to bits!" He grabbed his dynamite out of his pockets and took a threatening pose.

"But, you never met 'Juudaime' until you came to Namimori. So, who did you join the mafia to prove yourself to?"

Gokudera was as a loss. He couldn't attack anything, and this kid was messing with his head.

_"Yourself_, maybe?" The Storm Guardian's head shot up and his pupils contracted.

"Am I right? After all, you _are _just a half breed. It would make sense that you developed an inferiority complex against them. By joining the mafia, you could prove to yourself that you were stronger then all of them. That you were more then a bastard child."

"N-no..."

"No? Are you sure? By the unsteady beat of your heart I would guess that I was right." The voice paused for a few seconds.

"Before you can prove to him that you are worthy of being his right hand man, you must prove it to _yourself_. So, are you ready?"

The darkness swirled and scenes of Gokudera's past surrounded him. Some of them he had even forgot, the times he had spent with Bianchi and his father, the Storm Ring Battle, all of it.

"Stop...**STOP!**" Gokudera clutched his ears as memories resurfaced. The death of his real mother and how it had made him run away, and the time he had resented Hanatsu for being the Vongola Decimo.

"Hayato..." His mother was _standing _right in front of him holding his hands. She smiled, and then her image turned into sparkling dust, which floated away.

Tsuna stood beside him and smiled in a similar way as his mother, with sadness and pride.

"Stop blaming yourself. Embrace your weaknesses and find something worth protecting. Or have you already?"

"I have." Gokudera no longer needed to hesitate. He already knew what he wanted to protect.

The memories formed into a picture, a picture of him next to Hanatsu and the rest of the Guardians, even Mukuro and Hibari, smiling.

"So this is it? What you want to protect? Then cherish it. And remember, you are not only a protecter, but a protected as well. It's okay to rely on them sometimes."

The next time he opened his eyes, Gokudera found himself lying in the middle of a sunflower field. When he tried to sit up, he noticed a neatly folded paper.

After opening it up, he found a simple and easy to understand map drawn to lead him back to Namimori. Underneath a note was written.

_Hayato! If your reading this, you probably understand what I was trying to tell you earlier. I'll be staying in Namimori for a while to help Reborn train Natsu. Feel free to come by anytime! -Love, Tsuna_

Gokudera blushed slightly at the use of 'love' but shook it off. Following the instructions, he sat in his apartment for awhile before going back to the Sawada's.

* * *

The whole thing with Hayato had gone well.

Mission 1: Stop the self-sacrificing Storm from killing himself-check.

Mission 2: Understand what the _hell _was going on through Yamamoto's head, well that's still in progress.

They had only been gone for three hours, so it was possible that Natsu was awake by now.

At least Tsuna hoped so, so that he wouldn't have to deal with any more of Reborn's pestering questions. But, eventually he would have to tell him, if at least to get him to stop bugging him. Stupid nosy Arcobaleno apparently couldn't stay out of his business.

Tsuna huffed indignantly.

When he opened the door to his new 'home', Nana greeted him warmly. He replied back and went to Natsu's room again to check on him.

* * *

When Natsu woke up, he was surprised to see that Reborn had not hit his head with his green mallet and that the Sun was very bright through his window.

As he looked around his room, he saw the brunette who had beaten him earlier, Tsuna, sitting in the chair in front of his desk. His head was drooped to the side and his eyes were closed, showing that he was asleep.

It was hard to believe that this was the same person that had beaten him just a little while ago. Speaking of which, he didn't feel any aches or pains.

Maybe Reborn had healed him? He _was_ the Sun Arcobaleno, but it was hard to believe that Reborn would ever do something like that.

Natsu tried to get out of bed without waking the sleeping brunette up, but his efforts were in vain as said person stirred.

"M..'kro?" He lazily opened his eyes and yawned.

"Hm? Ah...Natsu, good...Afternoon?" His eyes were now fully open and he looked back and forth between the clock and Natsu.

Hanatsu blushed slightly at the sight of his cute tutor waking up. The moment however, was sadly broken as the window opened and Reborn hopped in.

"Ciaossu, Baka-Natsu, Dame-Tsuna."

"Dame? How am I no-good?" Reborn smirked and Hanatsu sweat-dropped. If _Tsuna _was no-good, then what was he? Being beaten by a no-good ruins your already low self-esteem.

"Dame-Tsuna's Dame-Tsuna." He tilted his head down.

"Reborn!" Tsuna pouted, rather cutely in Natsu's opinion. And not that either of the two in the room would listen to his opinion either. Demon tutors.

Both of them turned to Natsu at the same time and asked,

"What did you say (Baka) Natsu?" Damn! He had forgotten that Reborn was able to read minds and apparently the other one could as well.

Cursing his bad luck, Hanatsu apparently had some form of luck and was able to avoid their wrath when they could hear someone knocking on the door downstairs.

A few seconds later, Tsuna and Reborn had composed themselves when someone opened the door to Natsu's room.

"Natsu!" It was Yamamoto. Natsu's good friend and Tsuna's next mission.

"Ah! Yamamoto-kun!"

"Oh? Natsu? Who's this?" Yamamoto made a small hand gesture towards Tsuna.

"I'm Tsuna. I'll be working with Reborn to make Natsu and all of the other Guardians stronger." Tsuna stated somewhat mechanically.

"Haha! That's nice." If they had not heard Tsuna, they might have thought he was replying to something like the fact that his classmate had won a match in their club sport.

"I just wanted to come by to tell you that Hibari's looking for you." Natsu perked up to make sure he had heard correctly.

"Hibari?"

"Yeah. Something about some damaged school property. I would tell 'ya to keep away from him for a while but I'm not sure anyone could avoid Hibari!" Yamamoto laughed nervously.

"Yeah..." Damaged school property? Then he remembered the time Gokudera had lit and thrown a dynamite at one of the storage buildings. Some assassin had been sneaking around.

Natsu facepalmed outwardly and cried inwardly.

"Hibari? Y'know, you could probably deal with him Natsu." Tsuna remarked offhandedly.

Reborn raised an eyebrow at this encouragement but said nothing. Yamamoto and Natsu seemed a little surprised.

"N-no way! Hibari would 'bite me to death!"

_Hmph. Looks like I'll have to do a quick patch on Hibari before I can move on to Yamamoto. I can focus more on Hibari's other traits later._

"It's alright Natsu! I'll support you! And I'm sure Takeshi here wouldn't mind helping, right?" Tsuna acted a lot more cheerful then before. Whether it was at the prospect of a looming fight or being able to strengthen the Guardians, even he didn't know.

"Yeah! I'll help ya guys!"

"Really?" Natsu was happy that they believed in him. If Hibari beat him, at least Tsuna could step in and stop him from actually getting hurt.

"Al-alright." He usually wouldn't do something like this. What had changed in him?

* * *

Natsu became increasingly nervous as they stepped onto the path leading to school. Tsuna and Yamamoto were being cheery and talked about this and that.

Reborn was perched atop his head and was surprisingly silent for most of the trip since Yamamoto had arrived at their house.

It never failed to make Hanatsu sweat-drop at the thought of Hibari being in the Disciplinary Committee office during the weekend.

His hands shook slightly as he reached out to the handle of the door. Quite different to a horror film the door was clean and didn't creak as he opened it.

However, it didn't change the fact that the person on the other side of the door was a monster. A monster that would,

"I'll bite you to death, herbivore."

* * *

**Omake 1: On the Way to Getting Bitten to Death**

"So, Tsuna what do you usually do on Saturdays?" Yamamoto asked.

"Me? Well I usually just spend time with Chrome and the others. There's not really anything else to do over there." Tsuna sighed.

"Haha, that's nice. Getting to spend time with your friends 'n all." He smiled.

"Yeah, it really is." Tsuna smiled as well, but more forlornly.

"Y'know Tsuna, you really should drink more milk." Having sensed the other's discomfort, he changed the subject.

"Milk?"

"Yeah! You look so small! How old are you? 11? 12?" Tsuna was wrapped in a dark, depressing aura as he held himself in a corner, surrounded by swirling mist of depression.

"T-Takeshi...I'm your age!"

"E-eh?" How could he have known?! The boy looked so small and girly, he didn't look like he could be in middle school at all!

Tsuna sniffed, as though he needed a tissue.

"Do I really look that small Takeshi?" Yamamoto scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to comfort the brunette.

"W-well...I'm sure you'll grow in the next couple of years!" He patted the smaller boy's back encouragingly. It seemed to work as Tsuna smiled a bit.

The smile got brighter as Tsuna seemed to be thinking about something in the past. It made Yamamoto blush.

He found that _he _wanted to be the reason the other boy smiled.

Tsuna was oblivious to Yamamoto's blush and thoughts as he pondered over his standing with the mafia. Maybe, just maybe they all weren't as bad as he had thought. If he could help them change the mafia, the world would become better and Mukuro and Chrome and the others wouldn't have to worry. He smiled a bit.

That is, after they got 'bitten to death' of course.

* * *

**Omake 2: Where's Juudaime?!**

Through the streets of Namimori walked the young future Storm Guardian of the Vongola Decimo.

Currently, he was on his way to Hanatsu's house to see if he was alright. After getting 'talked to' by the kid, he felt a lot better.

Like a large weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He was also going there to get some answers from Reborn and the rest. If he was Juudaime's right-hand man, why hadn't he known about the kid tutoring him earlier?!

Quite differently from usual, people avoided him like the plague on the streets. One second he had a killing murderous aura directed at no one in particular, and another he looked depressed and ready to kill himself right there.

The dynamite he was holding in his hands could do either of the jobs, and let's just say that the Japanese population wanted to live.

When Gokudera finally reached Hanatsu's house, he knocked on the door. Juudaime's mother answered.

"Na-kuns friend! Oh, come right in." She smiled. He followed her into the house.

"Sorry, but Natsu's out with some of his other friends right now. Reborn went with him."

"..."

"**WHAT?!**"

* * *

_"The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The sun shining behind him represents the divine nature of the Fool's wisdom and exuberance, holy madness or 'crazy wisdom'. On his back are all the possessions he might need. In his hand there is a flower, showing his appreciation of beauty. He is frequently accompanied by a dog, sometimes seen as his animal desires, sometimes as the call of the "real world", nipping at his heels and distracting him. He is seemingly unconcerned that he is standing on a precipice, apparently about to step off. One of the keys to the card is the paradigm of the precipice, Zero and the sometimes represented oblivious Fool's near-step into the oblivion (The Void) of the jaws of a crocodile, for example, are all mutually informing polysemy within evocations of the iconography of The Fool. The staff is the offset and complement to the void and this in many traditions represents wisdom and renunciation, e.g. 'danda' (Sanskrit) of a Sanyassin, 'danda' (Sanskrit) is also a punctuation mark with the function analogous to a 'full-stop' which is appropriately termed a period in American English The Fool is both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between, liminal._

_The number 0 is a perfect significator for the Fool, as it can become anything when he reaches his destination as in the sense of 'joker's wild'. Zero plus anything equals the same thing. Zero times anything equals zero. Zero is nothing, a lack of hard substance, and as such it may reflect a non-issue or lack of cohesiveness for the subject at hand."_

_-Wikipedia  
_

**Just to clarify some more, Tsuna used mist to form the daggers. Reinforced with other flames, they're super strong! He can also make other weapons like in the next chapte****r. Just imagine Ryohei's healing gloves, the Storm flame to do damage, and the Rain flame for extra strength among other things combined.**

**The whole sunflower field thing was just to get Gokudera relaxed. The _SUN_flowers to me represented a new 'dawn'. And I think he needed that.  
**

I've notice _a lot _of fics with HibarixHaru and GokuderaxHaru. Umm, not to be particularly offensive to any of her fans, I don't quite see her charm.  
To me there's a certain line between willful and annoying, and sadly Haru is just a millimeter across that line. If someone can show me a fic that proves me wrong, please, I'm all ears.

Tell me if you think I can make improvements, especially on Tsuna's character. The thing that's driving him right now(Mukuro's freedom) makes him a bit bipolar in my opinion.

I can practically hear all of the people wondering if there's gonna be 1827. Wait a bit to find out! Review! Favorite! Alert! All of this will increase my motivation :)

For sure the fight of Hibari vs. Tsuna is gonna be _a lot_ more exciting then this one. Or at least, I'll try.

As for 7227, could you even call it that? I mean Natsu is _very_ different from the HDWM Tsuna in the manga/anime. There will be hints but very small. Not really gonna go very far with that unless by popular demand.

As for how long I think this is gonna go on, I really can't tell. Definitely over 100k but I shall make no promises and tell you no lies.

Hmm, not entirely sure if I'm happy with the first part. **Please review so I can see different perspectives on my work!**

Happy 8027 day everyone~! (8/27) This is why I wrote the first omake :D


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